A Dedication to My Little Guy--Who Won't Remember Our First Three Years :(

After recently reading a scientific based article about how childhood memory fades (link on my Facebook page) I started thinking about all of the wonderful things that my son does right now that he will have absolutely no recollection of, fading even as soon as the next four years or so.  It made me realize that we owe it to our children to not only track all of their milestones, but also their personality and the things that they do so that, in the future, they'll have an even better understanding of what made them who they are.  Toddlers, despite having a bad rap (terrible two's, threenager) they do some pretty awesome things during these extremely developmentally dense years.

So this blog post is dedicated to my little guy and the top 10 adorable awesome things that he does that I don't want to forget, but more importantly, I want him to know about. Of course am working on getting video footage of all of them, and you should too! Photos could never do these things justice. (Of course there are more than 10 adorable things, but these are my absolute favorites)

1. I want to always remember how my son shows excitement through his entire body.  When he is happy about something, he screams with such joy and echoes that feeling stomping both his feet very quickly. There is no second guessing that he is thrilled about what just happened or is about to occur.

2. When my son gives hugs he started saying "baby baby," so now that is the term we use for requesting them, ie "Can I have a baby baby?" He will then wrap his arms around our neck and say "baby baby" in the most adorable voice. I will be very sad when he no longer does this.

3. When my son doesn't like what someone else is doing, whether he knows them or not, he will tell them "no no" while shaking his forefinger.  He will do this to our dog, our cat, and other animals out in the world, as well as other children and adults. I am not quite sure why he doesn't like what they are doing sometimes, as it isn't always affecting him, but perhaps he just likes to maintain some sense of control of the situation.

4. When my little guy says a new word for the first time he will out of the blue repeat something that we've said, and it's absolutely no big deal to him. However, when we ask him to repeat the word after that, he usually won't.  Similarly, I love the way my son says certain words. Anyone outside our immediate family would have no idea what he is saying, but we understand his dialect and its ever changing nature certainly keeps us on our toes.

5. My son loves to run around holding up his diaper on either side. I have absolutely no idea how this started, but he gets a kick out of it, as so do we, quite possibly why he keeps doing it.  He'll also sometimes squat a little and make it more of a "duck walk."  He loves to do this while chasing me playing "Hide & Seek." For some reason he loves having me hide and startle him when he comes around looking for me.

6. I love how my son loves to sing while playing any musical instrument.  He yells "la la la" loudly while he plays his xylophone, tub piano, or anything else he can get his hands on.

7. The way my son will "cheese" for the camera is so adorable. If I ever want to get a photo of him smiling, the last thing I can say is "smile" because he will lift his head up, squint his eyes, and throw on the biggest, silliest grin you could ever imagine.

8. I think the way my son eats, both with his hands and with utensils, is so cute, especially when it's a food he loves. It's difficult to get this one on camera because as soon as I bring it out to film, he notices and poses.

9. The way my son absolutely loves our cat, even though she would prefer to have nothing to do with him, is so charming. He started signing "cat" not all that long ago, but more recently says "meow" as he does the sign.  Sometimes he pinches a little part of his cheek and says meow quietly, while other times he'll pinch a big piece of his cheek and say "meow" very loudly.  He'll walk up to the sleeping cat and make kissing sounds throughout the day.

10. Sometimes my son just wants to snuggle up in our bed. He will lay down on the pillows and pull the blankets up over himself. He may not even be tired or want to rest, it's just comfortable for him.

What are some of the adorable things your little one does or did that you don't ever want to forget? Do your best to capture it on film.  You owe it to your little one. As much joy as these things bring you, it will bring them even more being able to watch it years from now.  A number 11 for me could be watching my son enjoy watching himself in the videos we've already taken of him. We ask him who is in the video and he points to himself and says "me."  We even have videos of him watching videos of himself. Equally as adorable.

Mommy Milestones

There Are Some Things We Hit That Deserve a Celebration!

I spend a lot of time talking, educating, and thinking about all of the milestones to look for in our little ones from the moment we get to hold them in our arms.  But there are quite a few things that occur for us as moms that we should take the time to celebrate, whether it's our first child or subsequent birth.  If you have any things that you think should be added to this list, please feel free to comment below.

September '12-I was able to have the natural birth I had planned.  I was in labor for less than 24 hours, probably around 15 of which was pretty uncomfortable.  I said said some things during the painful moments that I don't really agree with now, like "Why does anyone do this more than once?!" But overall, I was happy with my decision and that I was able to do it.

September '12-I let someone hold my son without feeling extreme anxiety.

October '12-I finally figured out how to swaddle with a regular blanket.  Of course I would only resort to the regular blanket when the handy dandy velcro cheating swaddles were dirty.

October '12-I was able to leave my son with a family member while I went to do laundry.  This was the first time I had him out of my sight (besides while sleeping or showering).  If felt very odd and I hurried to get back to him.

October '12-I was able to nurse without pain. This was a HUGE milestone.  I had a lot of issues during the first month and forced myself to push through in order to exclusively nurse.  A couple of weeks in it started to hurt less, so I knew there was a light at the end of the tunnel.

November '12-I was able to get myself and my son to leave the house and run an errand without having a ton of anxiety.

December '12-My husband and I went out on our first date since the birth of our son.  I learned a lot that night regarding engorgement and the necessity of taking my lovely pump out with me.

January '13-I went back to work and left my son at home. This was probably the hardest milestone to reach and be okay with. I cried all the way to work.

February '13-I was able to drive to work without feeling sad for leaving my son.

March '13-I was able to nurse my son in his nursery.  Now this may sound like an odd milestone if you don't know about our situation. But our home caught on fire while we were in the hospital having my son. We lived in four different places before we were able to have the homecoming I had wanted so many months before.

April '13-I was able to put my son down to a nap in his crib.  Up until this point I was only able to get him to sleep while wearing him in a carrier. Although it took quite a bit longer to get him to sleep a substantial amount of time in his crib, it was a good feeling to be able to do so.

May '13-We got our bed back! Well, this wasn't so much of a celebration, to be honest. I actually enjoyed co-sleeping and I slept better than I was going to for many, many months to come.  We did not attempt any sleep training until a few months later so I was regretting hitting this milestone for quite a bit of time.

September '13-I planned an awesome first birthday party for my little guy.  I was very proud of how it turned out and I hope he appreciates the multitude hours of effort I put in.

February '14-I finally found a brand of cloth diapers that work for both me and my son. I was finally able to cloth diaper like I had planned almost two years prior.

April '14-I slept through the night!! My son had done it a couple of times before this night, but I finally slept a decent amount without getting up to tend to him nor my bladder.

As I remember some others, I will update this post and share.  I'd love to hear what milestones you've hit and feel proud of!

Looking forward is great, but slow down, there will be a last time for everything

Last night I had the pleasure of giving a Time Capsule Event for a lovely group of mommies. During my educational presentation while I was talking about milestones and looking forward to the next ones our babies will accomplish, I started to think about the converse...things he's doing now won't last forever, there will be a last time for everything.  Although slightly off topic from my usual posts, I thought I'd share some of these things with you in the hopes that you'll cherish each and everything just a little bit more.

Of course I'm looking forward to when my son can put himself to sleep and finally sleep through the night, but that means he'll no longer need me to nurse him back to sleep. There already was a last time we co-slept in his swaddle. Soon there will be a last time he latches on and falls asleep on me.

I am looking forward to when my son can bathe himself. But that means I'll no longer get to watch him experience the simple joy in playing the water after his bath has finished.  There already was a last time he bathed in the little bathtub sitting over the sink. Soon there will be a last time he sticks his head under the running water and giggles at how it feels.

It will be nice when my son will be able to feed himself, but that means we'll no longer be able to make him do "tricks" for food. Right now he makes the cutest impression of a monkey when he wants to eat his baked peas from Trader Joe's.  He already doesn't need me to make all of his food pureed, but pretty soon there will be a last time when he will no use his chubby little finger to point to the different things he wants to eat off of my plate.

It sure will be less worrisome when my son stops tripping and falling almost every time he gets excited and runs, but that means he'll no longer need me to pick him back up again and kiss his boo-boos. He already walks ahead of me at the park and goes to the different equipment he wants to play on.  Pretty soon he won't look for my hand to grab to help him go up steps, and there will be a last time when he will want to sit on my lap to go down the big kid slide.

There will be a last time when he will allow me to kiss him in public, there will be a last time when he signs "Momma" or "Dadda" with such a sparkle in his eyes, there will come a time when he will no longer think of my husband and I as his entire universe. I know that we gave him life so that he will have a life. But I really want to look at all of the things he's doing right now, both difficult and wonderful, and cherish them just a little bit more, because there will be a last time for everything.

Take the time to capture everything.  For more ideas go to videobabybooks.com or check out previous posts in my blog.

The Importance of Keeping a Baby Book

...or "Why I Do What I Do"

There are a lot of great reasons to keep a baby book for your little one(s).  Keeping track of milestones is not only great for reminiscing in later years, knowing that your little one is hitting their milestones is important to track for progress, even years down the road.  The sooner a developmental delay can be identified, the sooner intervention can take place and quite possibly avoid problems later on down the road.  Your pediatrician will want to know at each of your well-baby visits that your child has not only reached specific milestones, but when they happened.

Another reason to keep a baby book is none other than avoiding the dreaded "mommy guilt."  Believe it or not, not writing down when those milestone occurred can create a great deal of negative feelings and then the overwhelming feeling that occurs when it's time to finally play catch up may keep the catch up from ever even happening.  More simply put: the more you have to write down, the less likely you'll write down any of it.  This tends to be the case, more often than not, for successive children.  Then the "mommy guilt" is even worse when the kids get older and compare the lack of documentation of their lives to their older siblings.  Luckily, my mom had four years between me and my older sister, so for being a third child, my baby book is pretty well filled out.  Of course there are gaps here and there, but the fact that I can ask my mom when I did such and such and she can say "I don't know, check your baby book" is usually good enough for me.  I have yet to compare my book to my older siblings, but what I've got is good enough for when it was made.

This brings me to my next reason for keeping a baby book, FOR YOUR CHILDREN. Inevitably kids will ask where they come from at some point, being able to pull out a book (or it's equivalent) makes answering that question a lot easier.  Of course I'm not recommending putting all of the conception details into a baby book, but typically looking through the book (or again, it's equivalent) will squash the birds and the bees question, for a while anyway.   Looking even further into the future, when your kids have their own kids, it will be important for them to compare when they did something with when their child is doing those things.  For example, my son is just now, at fifteen months, getting his first tooth.  When the one year milestone passed and no pearly whites were in sight, I of course got concerned.  But since I myself did not have too many teeth early on (thanks to being able to find out in my own baby book), a lot of my concerns were put at bay (and searching on Google was helpful as well).

Looking even further down the road, as much as we don't want to think about our own mortality, we will not always be around and giving our children the chance to read about our thoughts and feelings towards them and gain deeper insight into those early years and the relationships we developed during that time, can really make all the difference.  In the case of Video Baby Books, seeing how we look at our babies, the way we respond to them, how we talk about them, how we look at them, is a priceless treasure that will mean more to them than we will ever know.

If a typical baby book is not for you, you are not alone.  Feel free to check out my previous blog post on the typical baby book and alternatives that exist.  If you're an expectant or new parent and already feeling overwhelmed, you can always delegate the responsibility to me and have me create a Video Baby Book for you.  Check out my website, like me on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter.  On my website you can sign up for my mailing list to receive the "Top Ten Home Movie Failures To Avoid."